TerrorismIndonesian police thwarts rocket attack on neighboring Singapore
Indonesia’s counter-terror police say they have thwarted a rocket attack on Singapore by arresting six suspected militants on Friday morning on Indonesia’s Batam island, about fifteen miles south-east of Singapore, a police spokesman said. Islamist terrorism in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, captured the headlines in 2002, when members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant network killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists, in Bali bombings. Since then, Islamist terrorist carried out smaller and less deadly attacks which targeted government agencies, mainly police and anti-terrorism forces.
Indonesia’s counter-terror police say they have thwarted a rocket attack on Singapore by arresting six suspected militants on Friday morning on Indonesia’s Batam island, about fifteen miles south-east of Singapore, a police spokesman said.
The police spokesman said the arrests offered more evidence of the continued threat posed by Islamist extremists in Indonesia, even after a sustained counterterrorism campaign which began eighteen months ago.
“We have strong indications that the six men were planning to launch a rocket at Singapore’s Marina Bay from Batam,” he said.
The Straight Times reports that Marina Bay is a busy area filled with high-rise office towers, waterside restaurants, and tourist attractions, including one of Asia’s biggest casinos.
The police spokesman said the arrested men claimed they were members of Katibah Gigih Rahmat, a little-known Islamist group which, until now, has invested its resources helping Indonesian militants travel to Syria. The Indonesian security services believe the group has received funds from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian who has traveled to Syria to fight in ISIS ranks.
The police has already linked Naim to several terrorist attacks – or attempts at terrorist attacks — in Indonesia, including a suicide bombing outside police headquarters in the city of Solo last month in which the bomber, but no one else, was killed.
Military analysts say it is not clear whether the six militants who were arrested had the technical know-how to carry out a rocket attack. Sidney Jones, director of Jakarta think tank the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, told AFP that more information about the rocket plot was needed before drawing firm conclusions. “I think it highly unlikely that the plan had got very advanced,” she added.
Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement that Singapore’s security agencies had coordinated with Indonesia to monitor the activities of the group and apprehend those involved.
Islamist terrorism in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, captured the headlines in 2002, when members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant network killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists, in Bali bombings.
Since then, Islamist terrorist carried out smaller and less deadly attacks which targeted government agencies, mainly police and anti-terrorism forces.
JI leadership and many of the movement’s members have renounced violent jihad, but a small number of JI followers have broken away and aligned themselves with ISIS.
